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High-resolution seismic reflection profiles from Lake Titicaca, Peru-Bolivia: Evidence for Holocene aridity in the tropical Andes

¹ Department of Earth Sciences, 204 Heroy Geology Laboratory, Syracuse University, Syracuse, New York 13210
² Department of Geology, Duke University, Durham, North Carolina 27708
³ Department of Geological and Environmental Sciences, Stanford University, Stanford, California 94305
⁴ Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Lehigh University, Bethlehem, Pennsylvania 18015

High-resolution seismic reflection profiles of the sediments of Lake Titicaca, Peru-Bolivia, suggest that lake levels in the recent past were considerably lower than today. Incised channels on the major deltas extend to depths of 85 m below modern lake level. Erosional truncation of onlapping seismic reflectors is found at similar depths. This interpretation of the seismic data is supported by analyses of sediment cores from the lake, which indicate that there was a significant drop in lake level during the early to mid-Holocene.

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